Emmy Award-winning costume designer Ray Aghayan dies at 83

October 14, 2011 - 15:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ray Aghayan, an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated costume designer whose credits included more than a dozen Oscar shows and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has died. He was 83.

Aghayan, the lifetime partner of costume designer Bob Mackie, died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, said a spokeswoman for the Costume Designers Guild, Los Angeles Times reported.

In a career that spanned television, film and Broadway, the Iranian-born Aghayan designed costumes for such stars as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dinah Shore, Julie Andrews, Carol Channing and Doris Day.

A onetime stage actor, director and producer, Aghayan launched his career as a television costume designer for "Matinee Theatre" in 1957.

Aghayan received six more Emmy nominations and shared an Emmy in 1987 with Ret Turner for "Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues." He won his third Emmy in 1992 for the 64th Annual Academy Awards.

After establishing himself in television, Aghayan moved into films in the mid-1960s, with credits including "Do Not Disturb," "The Glass Bottom Boat," "In Like Flint," "Caprice" and "Doctor Dolittle."

For his work in films, he received three Oscar nominations: for "Gaily, Gaily" in 1970, for "Lady Sings the Blues" in 1973 (shared with Mackie and Norma Koch) and for "Funny Lady" in 1976 (shared with Mackie).

Aghayan also worked as a costume designer for Broadway productions and received a Tony Award nomination in 1970 for "Applause."

Of Armenian descent, Aghayan was born July 28, 1928, in Tehran, where his mother was a designer of haute couture.